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Dynasty Testing Observations

Hey guys. I've spent most of my time with the early release testing out dynasty to see exactly how the new recruiting and coach skills work. Thought I'd share some of my observations. If anyone else that's played the game has anything to add, please do. I'll also answer any questions you might have.

Coach Skills/Coaching Carousel

- I did one dynasty where I created a coach at all 12 of our programs. Coach progression was set to slow speed. At the beginning of the 8th season the "user" coach levels were as follows: 27, 21, 20, 21, 21, 27, 23, 24, 20, 23 and 21. It takes 27 total points to max out one of the two head coaching skill trees (game management and recruiting). The highest level for a coach is 54.

- Keep in mind that most if not all of the coaches didn't sim as well as they will play in CL. Some of the teams had losing seasons, and there were many years where non-user teams won the conference. While I do expect a better showing from the CPU this launch I think that coaches in CL will be more in the 23-30 range at the start of season 8.
- Coaching Carousel cannot be turned off this year. This of course means that user coaches can get fired. In seven seasons 3 coaches lost their jobs, none before season 4. Keep in mind that the coach did get fired after a 3-9 season. If you can consistently win at least 8 games per season I think you will be fine, winning bowl games and beating rivals also seems to be important.

- The school your at also plays a big part in job security. My coach at OSU had won a national title, but the following seasons went 9-4, 11-3 and 8-5. My coaches' job security was then downgraded from "safe" to "safe for now." The following season OSU went 12-2, won the B1G and my coach was given a 7 year extension.

- The biggest drawback to CC being on is that when your assistant coaches leave, you don't get to hire their replacements. This makes the process a bit random as you could luckily land a Defensive Coordinator with 16 available skill points, or be unlucky and get a level 1. It seems that high-prestige coaches attract high-prestige assistants who have a lot of skill points so at least theres that, but it will create some random unbalance in the dynasty on occasion. Fortunately, when you do get a high-leveled coordinator they generally leave for a head coaching position shortly after. Nonetheless, I'm considering editing all the coordinators before we start CL and making them level 1, which should help mitigate the issue. That being said, high-leveled head coaches can still become your assistants after they get canned. Would appreciate your thoughts on how to handle this.

- Coach progression isn't linear. It takes about 1,000 points to level from 1-to-2 and 17,050 points to get from 27-to-28, for instance.

- The recruiting tree will definitely be more popular for users, at least early on. The base level talents for recruiting are very attractive, while the ones for game management are garbage. Additionally, the second and third tiers are very vital to recruiting efforts. A lot TSO OD's are requiring a 3:1 maximum ratio for the trees, meaning that if you have 3 skills in one tree you MUST have 1 in the other ... 2 for 6, 3 for 9 ect. Would also appreciate feedback on if we should do a required ratio or not.

Recruiting

- It's definitely different this year. Don't go into CL with the attitude of "I've recruited well before, I can learn this on the fly," because you will have a miserable first class. It's taken me a few seasons of just recruiting to get a hang of it, and I'm still learning.

- There's more to consider this year when putting recruits on your board. The most important thing to consider when adding a recruit to your board is how well your pitches match up with the prospect's top 3 interests. If the prospect's most interested in playing time/program prestige/play-style and you are C/A/C in those areas then you might not want to waste your time on him. In some cases the prospect won't even let you add him to your board because your pitches aren't good enough.

- The first season will be the most difficult recruiting year for everyone, as we won't initially have any recruiting perks from the coaching tree. It's hard to recruit against some programs (Michigan/Bama) when they have more points to spend each week and can spend more on each recruit per week. That's not to say it was impossible, I think I finished with a top-15 class in the first season. That was also my first season touching recruiting and I made some big mistakes

- Late-season visits are more powerful, but your going to want to get the guys that you have big leads on to visit toward weeks 7-10 so you can wrap up the recruiting process. The more people your recruiting in the offseason, the worse that class is going to be for you.

- Offseason recruiting is a bit of a crapshoot. You have 10,000 points to spend (more with a 3rd-tier coach skill) and can allocate it all to one prospect, or spread it amongst the guys on your board. I generally have 4-6 guys on my board at this point. If you spread yourself too thin you could end up getting none of them. I like to give it to 2-3 guys and hope for the best.

- Because it's so much harder to recruit, you're going to have to fill your board out with around 2-5 not so great recruits. I'm talking guys in the mid-high 60's. Recruits, in general, seem to come in a bit lower this year. But the guys in the 60's that you bring in will have to redshirt and hopefully add depth in a few seasons. I personally like this as it will be much more difficult to stockpile every single position with 90s. Your going to have weaknesses on an almost yearly basis, save the occasional stacked team.

General Dynasty

- Players leaving looks about the same. It seems that some players still unexplainably don't even test the waters, likely due to their play-style (QBs) or size. In all of the tests i've done Braxton Miller, Johnny Manziel and D'Anthony Thomas returned for their senior seasons, Miller and Manziel after winning Heismans.

Appreciate the early insights. I don't get my copy of the game until tomorrow. I'm also gonna be moving in a couple of weeks, but hopefully can get some practice in before we start CL. I'll do my best to give some input after I get a chance to mess with it.

Appreciate the early insights. I don't get my copy of the game until tomorrow. I'm also gonna be moving in a couple of weeks, but hopefully can get some practice in before we start CL. I'll do my best to give some input after I get a chance to mess with it.

Well said Spayer. Also wanted to add that if you do end up signing a smaller class (8-15), the computer will 'fill' it up with several players who may not have even been on your board. This could be imaginatively called your preferred walk on group, but for those who prefer not to pretend, it could cause some .

Also, when considering the wildcard replacement coordinator issue, I think the only workaround would be to limit the # of upgrades a user can give to their coordinator in the event that they acquire a high level one. For Instance, the upgrade cap for each coordinator could be Level 4 for the first year, level 6 the second year, level 8 the third... or something similar. This would prevent users from abusing the 'reward' of a level 18 coordinator after a successful season, which is in effect giving them an undeserved advantage early in the dynasty. In the event that you receive a lesser coordinator, then you are just a bit unlucky... So just use that imagination and pretend your school made a bad hire . Unfortunately, you won't be able to fire him, so that can be used as another source of motivation to win, win, win, baby.

Well said Spayer. Also wanted to add that if you do end up signing a smaller class (8-15), the computer will 'fill' it up with several players who may not have even been on your board. This could be imaginatively called your preferred walk on group, but for those who prefer not to pretend, it could cause some .

Also, when considering the wildcard replacement coordinator issue, I think the only workaround would be to limit the # of upgrades a user can give to their coordinator in the event that they acquire a high level one. For Instance, the upgrade cap for each coordinator could be Level 4 for the first year, level 6 the second year, level 8 the third... or something similar. This would prevent users from abusing the 'reward' of a level 18 coordinator after a successful season, which is in effect giving them an undeserved advantage early in the dynasty. In the event that you receive a lesser coordinator, then you are just a bit unlucky... So just use that imagination and pretend your school made a bad hire . Unfortunately, you won't be able to fire him, so that can be used as another source of motivation to win, win, win, baby.

Click to expand...

Another idea I had was that the coordinator could have 1/2 as many skill points as the head coach. So if you're a level 12, and they hire a level 15, you can assign 6 of those skill points. Once you achieve level 14 as a HC you can assign 7 skill points to your coordinator

Another idea I had was that the coordinator could have 1/2 as many skill points as the head coach. So if you're a level 12, and they hire a level 15, you can assign 6 of those skill points. Once you achieve level 14 as a HC you can assign 7 skill points to your coordinator

Click to expand...

I like this idea. That way, coaches who have had more success than others will still see a return in that success, rather than being kept on the same level. Communism didn't work in Europe and it ain't workin in Chompions league.

For the assistant coaches deal lets do the editing to lvl 1's sounds fair. As far for the coaching ratio that's tough because I'm more of a fan of building your coach to your liking or style I guess but the ratio doeant sound bad so that no particular coach can out grow and be dominant I gueaa but the ratio sounds better to me.

I like this idea. That way, coaches who have had more success than others will still see a return in that success, rather than being kept on the same level. Communism didn't work in Europe and it ain't workin in Chompions league.